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e-news | January 28th, 2009 |
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Business News |
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Business NewsChristmas sales meet retail projections at $37 billionSpurred on by the Federal Government’s $10 billion consumer stimulus package in December, Christmas shoppers did their bit for the economy by spending around $37 billion dollars, much to the delight of the Australian Retailers Association (ARA). The ARA had been worried by the slow lead-up to December but the $10 billion cash bonus released by the Government into the hands of shoppers saw Christmas sales skyrocket in the last weeks of December to meet early projections of $37 billion nationally in retail sales. According to ARA Executive Director Richard Evans, the two percent increase on the previous 2007 Christmas period was a great outcome. "Considering all the negativity about the economy in the market in October and November, by the last two weeks of December, Australians were more confident about gift giving with reduced petrol prices, lowering interest rates and the Rudd Government's cash bonus," Evans said. "From our research, we are also seeing a new type of consumer emerge - a more thrifty, credit-savvy, saving consumer. The lessons learnt from being burdened with high levels of credit card debt will mean in 2009 consumers will be in a much better cash position than we have seen previously. "Over Christmas retailers saw more lay-bys being used as shoppers tried to avoid the hangover debt in February when bills are received. This all adds up to a healthier, guilt-free Australian consumer who will be ready to open up the purse strings in the coming months. Greater Western Sydney Business Growth Conference & Expo
The Greater Western Sydney Business Growth Conference and Expo will bring together experts in business growth business leaders and entrepreneurs as well as senior representatives from Federal, State and regional organisations to address ways to maximise business growth and opportunities in the face of the global economic crisis. With Greater Western Sydney being one of the economic powerhouses of Australia, this unique conference will focus on the opportunities that regional businesses have to expand their operations Organised by My Business Magazine and designed for business owners and senior managers, the conference will include sessions and workshops on: - Financing your business growth in the face of global slowdown More than 25 top speakers will address the Conference. Confirmed speakers include David Bolger, the NSW Minister for Western Sydney; Brett Whitford, the Executive Director of the Customer Service Institute of Australia; Anne Scott, NSW Deputy State Manager – Innovation for AusIndustry; Alison Turner, Business Development Manager, Western Sydney Business Centre and Michael Burges, director at the NSW Manufacturing Centre. For further information about attending the Conference, click here. For more information of sponsorships or attending this important conference, contact Helen on (02) 8923 8003 or events@mybusiness.com.au.
Facing the facts with a new legal judgmentIn what appears to be a legal first, a judge of the Australian Capital Territory Supreme Court has upheld the right of lawyers to serve legally binding court documents and notices by posting them on defendants’ Facebook sites. Plaintiff MKM Capital applied to Master David Harper of the Supreme Court to use Facebook to serve notice of a judgment on two borrowers who had defaulted on a loan. The defendants had failed to repay a loan of $150,000 they borrowed from MKM last year to refinance their mortgage. After being granted a default judgment for the loan amount and for possession of the house after the couple failed to appear in court to defend the action, MKM then had to locate the defendants and serve them with the papers. After hiring private investigators and numerous failed attempts to find the couple, the lawyers identified the Facebook profiles of the defendants, convinced the court that those profiles did in fact belong to the couple, and satisfied the court that communication through their Facebook pages was a sufficient means of communicating with the defendants. No surprises: tax man gallops to the front of the queueA report in The Australian newspaper suggests that a recent court judgment that has “far-reaching implications” for the insolvency industry and for the staff and creditors of failed businesses. It reported that lawyers have expressed surprise and concern at the judgment in December by the Full Federal Court in a case between the ATO and Bruton Holdings. The effect of the judgment is that the tax office can issue a notice, known as a 260-5 notice, directly to a third-party debtor, after a company has commenced winding up, Instead of the company’s debtors paying money to the liquidators - which would then be distributed to creditors - they can now be forced to pay the money directly to the tax office to offset any tax liability the failed company might have. Employees hoping to be paid out wages and superannuation are at the highest risk of losing their benefits to the tax office, as are insolvency practitioners who might find there is no money for their fees if the tax office jumps the queue. Liquidators also fear they could end up with no money to fund legal action to recover other assets of a failed company. Lawyers said that previously the commissioner would serve these 260-5 notices before the winding-up resolution and there would be no problems with that. However, the Full Federal Court has ruled that even after commencement of winding up, the ATO can issue one of these notices to the debtor “and it is an offence for a debtor not to comply." Lawyers claimed that the decision went against one of the "fundamental underpinnings" of Australia's insolvency regime, which was not to give priority to the tax office, in a bid to help companies stay afloat. It is likely that the Federal Court’s judgment will be appealed to the High Court. Buying local strengthens as dollar weakensThe global financial problems seem to be encouraging online shoppers to purchase more local products, with the fall in the Aussie make foreign goods more expensive. Digital marketing solutions company, Coremetrics, said that Australian and New Zealand online consumers are slowing spending and preferring to shop on home-grown sites, as the local dollar plunged during the quarter ending December 2008. However, the conversion rate for online sales in Australia and New Zealand has dropped to just 2.9 and 2.5 orders per 100 online sessions respectively, compared with 4.4 and 4 respectively between the months of April and June 2008. Kevin Mackin of Coremetrics believes this change in behaviour is a clear indication that online consumers are feeling the pinch of the exchange rate when considering buying online from overseas websites. “While we might be spending slightly less time browsing and viewing fewer pages, the survey results show that ecommerce is a vital sales channel for many businesses today. Even when the chips are down service providers and retailers need to constantly look for ways to engage customers and close sales online.” The recent study undertaken by Coremetrics looked at the trends of ecommerce users across the UK, USA, Singapore, New Zealand and Australia. Consumer activity was collated and analysed from more than 80 million web sessions and 750 million page views, which included 2.7 million orders collectively valued at more than 200 million US Dollars. Retailers claim that legislation will cause business closuresIn its submission to the Senate Inquiry into the Fair Work Bill, the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) said the Federal Government's proposed new industrial relations laws would force many small retailers to close their doors. ARA Executive Director Richard Evans said the proposed bill discriminates heavily against small business. "Small business is not equipped to cope with the new industrial relations system, including an average retail wage bill increases between 11-22 percent. The limitations of SMEs, including small retailers, have not been considered in the final drafting of the Fair Work Bill.” In fact, the ARA anticipates a real increase in SME retail wage bills brought about by the new modern awards (average of 14% or $28,500 nationally) and a wages breakout as implied by union leaders as a result of the Fair Work Bill. The ARA says that "Fair Work Australia's ultimate ability to determine the terms and conditions of employment is a costly load for SME retailers who are already expecting to have higher wage bills and payroll obligations with the new modern retail award.” Evans said that "The 1.5 million employees in the retail sector who are mostly non-unionised are not working for mass employers. We're mostly talking about SME's who are not equipped, resourced or informed enough to be able to cope with the new expectations and obligations imposed upon them as a result of the constant changes in workplace laws.” Bit of an eye-opener: Specsavers opens its 150th Australian storeProving that a good business idea can pretty well succeed at any time – regardless of the prevailing economic conditions – the Specsavers franchised optical outlets has reached its target of 150 new stores in Australia from a standing start of just over a year ago. The UK-owned private company has persuaded scores of local optometrists to convert to the Specsaver brand to gain access to the international company’s buying power, brand strength, and marketing prowess. The 150th store opened at Bundaberg, Queensland, and new openings have been galloping along at an average rate of almost 14 practices per month. Specsavers Australian Managing Director, Peter Larsen, said, “We are thrilled to have reached our 150 store year-one target. This is an amazing figure in any economic environment in a single country and by a single brand.” The company says that Specsavers’ franchisees are experiencing an average revenue growth of around 40 percent compared with their standalone sales prior to joining the chain The British-based company, which is owned by Doug and Mary Perkins, has grown to over 1,200 stores worldwide. Specsavers is now the world’s largest independently owned optical retailer and in less than a year in the Australian retail optical market, Specsavers has become the number two player. Rights of franchisees to sell now open to questionFranchise consultants, DC Strategy, say that a recent Queensland court decision has shed new light on what rights franchisees have to sell their franchised business, and the ability of franchisors to refuse consent for the sale of the franchise to any particular person. DC Strategy says that while Franchising Code of Conduct requires that franchisors must not unreasonably withhold consent to the transfer of a franchise, the issue arise as to what circumstances can be judged as “unreasonable”? In the decision the Queensland court made it clear that refusing consent to the transfer could not be considered unreasonable if a franchisor was acting in the legitimate interest of the franchise system’s long term success. The court further found that although the Code describes when a refusal will be considered reasonable these are simply examples and do not make an exhaustive list of the “only” reasons available. The court also made it clear that the franchisee bears the burden of proof to establish that a franchisor’s refusal to grant consent to a transfer was unreasonable. Therefore, if the franchisor has clear policies and selection criteria for potential franchisees, it is within its rights to refuse consent for transfer to a party that does not meet those criteria. DC Strategy said that franchisees intending to sell are advised to clearly understand these criteria and be aware when the franchisor may be justified in refusing to grant consent for a transfer. For more information, contact Patrick Holt at patrick.holt@dcstrategy.com. Fall in job advertisements likely to impact on employment levelsFigures show Australia's job advertisement market is shrinking with the ANZ's monthly job survey finding that there were 9.7 per cent fewer positions advertised in major newspapers and on the internet in December than in November. It marked the eighth month in a row that the number of jobs advertisements has fallen. Job ads in newspapers have fallen by 51.8 per cent in the year to December, the largest downturn since the survey began in 1975. The number of internet job ads fell by 9.5 per cent in the month of December and were down 28.1 per cent in the 12 months to December, the weakest outcome in the history of the survey. ANZ chief economist, Warren Hogan, said the rate of decline in job advertising intensified in December, "providing further evidence that the demand for new labour across the Australian economy is now at recession levels". Mr Hogan said the federal government's forecast of an unemployment rate of five per cent by June 2009 was "too optimistic". "We expect to see an upward revision to the official unemployment forecast in the May Budget resulting in a further deterioration in the government's financial position." Australia-India Business Summit to be held on Wednesday 20th May 2009 at the Sofitel Sydney Wentworth
The annual Australia India Business Summit is the major forum to review trends and opportunities in bilateral trade and investment between the two countries and the conference will be held on May 20 in Sydney. Organised by the Australia India Business Council (AIBC), the 2009 conference in Sydney on May 20 will hear presentations from senior politicians, and business people from both countries. The one day event to be held at the Sofitel Sydney Wentworth and will conclude with a Gala Dinner. Despite the gloomy global economic environment, trade and investment between Australia and India continues to grow at a very healthy rate. India is Australia’s sixth largest and most fast growing merchandise export market with an annual growth rate of 28 percent during the last five years. The Conference and Gala Dinner provides outstanding face-to-face networking opportunities for sponsors, delegates and speakers. The conference agenda will include industry chapter streams; sessions on doing business in India and case studies of successful trade and investment. For details of the conference, please go to www.halledit.com.au/aibc09. For more information about attending the conference, please email Joanne King joanne.king@aibc.org.au or telephone 03 8534 5070. For sponsorship details, please contact Simon Davis simon.davis@aibc.org.au. | ||||||||
